Dean had to admit; for all the issues his jobs had been causing lately, his bosses sure were forgiving for missing two work days in a row. His boss, Barbara, even offered to let him have the day off from the gas station as well, which he declined. It felt good to work again, even if he was falling back into the feverish state of moving between work and sleep with little time for anything else in between.

That was probably the reason he hadn't noticed anything off about Castiel at first. By the time Dean stumbled into Castiel's house to pick up Sam for the night, he didn't even realize in the haze of his exhaustion that Castiel was careful around him, moving as if he was treading on eggshells, going as far as to stand several feet away, like Dean had some disease that caused him to smelled bad.

Well, Dean had noticed things were off, but his need for sleep overtook any thoughts of staying up later, though he did take to smelling his clothes every morning just to subconsciously make sure that wasn't the problem.

Even when he did eventually notice, he didn't mention it. He figured that it was just Castiel being awkward ever since Dean happened to publicly assault him with an impromptu makeout session, but the final straw was when he was putting Sam to bed, who stared at him with wide eyes.

"Daddy's upset," Sam murmured, his voice a tiny whisper as if it were something he wasn't supposed to say out loud. Dean paused from tucking him in, tipping his head and looking down at his little brother.

"Why is Cas upset?" Dean asked with a frown lining his features. Sam fiddled with his fingers before stuffing them under the covers and shrugging.

"I dunno," Sam replied, rolling into a small ball and pulling the freshly tucked blanket closer, ruining what Dean had done like he did every night.

Dean watched his brother for a minute, but he finally gave up when he heard soft snores coming from Sam. With a hand running through his hair, he headed into the kitchen, pulling out a beer and taking a sip of it. Suddenly, he didn't feel so tired anymore.

Still, despite his mind racing, he fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you okay?" Dean blurted out as Castiel took the drowsy Sam from his arms, his face heating up a little after the words left his mouth. He hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Castiel looked at him in surprise, the first real emotion Dean had seen on his face in a week, "I'm fine, Dean," Castiel responded, turning away with Sam in his arms to take him towards the guest bedroom.

"You don't seem fine," Dean uttered, following after him and focusing on Castiel's tensing shoulders, "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened," Castiel replied, though his voice grew a little tighter as he laid Sam in the bed and turned, his eyes icy and nearly freezing Dean on the spot. That stare made him want to drop the subject, though he held resolute as he gazed back.

"Obviously something did," Dean huffed, barely able to blink before Castiel was leaving the room, skirting around Dean without so much as a brush of their arms.

"I don't think we should try to be in a relationship," Castiel stated, pausing just a moment at the doorway to glance back at Dean before he was leaving the room. Dean froze, his heart stuttering to a stop in his chest before it kickstarted and he was hurrying after Castiel, grabbing him by the shoulder and turning him around.

"Cas, what's going on?" Dean asked, unable to keep the hurt out of his voice when Castiel refused to meet his eyes. Instead, the older man turned away, swallowing thickly before shaking his head.

"Did you ever stop and consider that I might be too old for you?" Castiel responded with a question of his own, the bitterness in his voice catching Dean off guard. He blinked, taking just a moment to process Castiel's words before his frown deepened.

"Is that what you were worried about? Cas, I don't care if you're older," Dean assured, though it didn't seem to assuage Castiel's frustrations any. 

"I do, Dean," Castiel retorted, his eyes finally shooting up to meet Dean's, "I care that people are going to think that you are my son before a partner. I don't want you to have to stay with an old man when you are only in your thirties. I've seen how other people look at couples with age gaps. They judge. They think that the couples are disgusting. Do you really wish for those rumors when Sam is around? Do you want Sam to grow up, only to realize that one of his father's is the same age as grandfathers?"

Dean crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Castiel as the man took a moment to breath, "Never pegged you as the type of guy to care what other's think," Dean suggested, a brows creasing slightly when Castiel's eyes lowered.

"Not wanting to add to rumors and ruin a person's reputation seems to be the way to show I care, it seems," Castiel answered, a bit harshly, though that was nothing compared to Dean's scoff in response.

"Cas, trust me, any rumor they can come up with is nothing. Besides, you can't get out of dating me now," Dean added in an attempt to calm the man, a smirk twitching at the corners of his lips that had Castiel staring at him in confusion, "Sam considers you his father. Too late to back out now, buddy."

Dean stepped past Castiel, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder as reassurance as he headed to work. Castiel's hand found his, gripping it tightly before he could walk too far away, watching Dean with still wary eyes. Dean was just happy to see hope there as well.

"I still think this is a bad idea," Castiel commented, making it clear to Dean that he was not fond of his stubbornness on the matter, "But I will give it a try...for now."

"Glad you can see things my way," Dean replied cheerfully, squeezing Castiel's hand once to make sure that Castiel knew that he was serious before attempting to pull away. Still, when Castiel's grip just tightened, Dean frowned, his brows furrowing, "Cas, it'll be ok-"

"Dean, when you get off work next, would you like to go on a date?" Castiel interrupted, his gruff voice growing soft as he looked down, hiding the flush in his face. Dean gave a pleasantly surprised smiled, though he answered Castiel with a nod.

"Sure. I'll ask off next week," Dean responded, leaning forwards and nudging his way to Castiel's lips, pressing a small kiss there before he was pulling away.

"I wanna go on a date too!" Dean heard Sam chirp, looking at the guest bedroom's doorway to find the toddler standing there with a small and sleepy smile on his face. Dean gave him a worn smile before looking at Castiel, who only looked at the toddler with affection.

"Of course, Sam. We couldn't leave you," Castiel assured, the previous conversation's frustrations still in his tone, but much less pronounced that he was talking to the toddler.

Sam nodded, like it was common knowledge that he should always be with them, "I'll ask off next week, too," Sam mocked Dean's words from early, nodding to himself and rubbing his chin as he walked back into his room, soft sounds coming from the open doorway that sounded vaguely like Sam mimicking a phone.

Dean chuckled just a little, listening to his little brother loudly declare that he wanted 'off,' "Have fun with him. Looks like he's fully awake now," Dean commented, digging his hand into his pocket for his keys. If he didn't leave soon, he was seriously going to be late for work.

"Goodbye, Dean," Castiel responded, following Dean towards the front of the room.

Dean waved with out looking back, halfway out the front door before he bothered to answer.

"See you tonight, Cas."